Air India grounds woman co-pilot for showing up intoxicated to work: Report

Air India (Commons)

An air-hostess-turned pilot, who was supposed to co-pilot a Bengaluru-Trivandrum Air India flight was grounded for reporting to work in an alleged intoxicated state, the Times of India reported.

The woman is believed to have failed a pre-flight breathalyser test.

"One of our pilot's breath analyser test was found to be positive on Sunday. She has been grounded," an Air India official was quoted as saying by the paper.

In 2016, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had directed authorities to register a First Information Reports (FIR) against two pilots and three cabin crew members of commercial airlines after they were found to be drunk post their international flights.

According to the prescribed procedure, a pilot is required to go through two breath analysis checks and if found intoxicated, they would face hefty penalties ranging from three months to life ban, depending on the number of times the pilot fails the test.

On international flights, pilots have to undergo post-flight checks as liquor is made available on flights.